Website Critique

Playlist.com

Playlist.com, to me, is a very well designed website. I use this website on a daily basis and it is both aesthetically pleasing and well functioning. Playlist.com is a site that allows its users to build their own playlists of music for free as well as listen to other peoples playlists.

I really like the layout of this site. It is not too cluttered, and it is well balanced. The elements of the site are each grouped into their own box making it easy to distinguish one area from another. The site is laid out such that the search box is at the top and the top searches of the day follow under it. The next box holds different featured playlists. The box under that holds the top ten playlists of the day and the box next to that holds the playlist.com blog. Finally, at the bottom of the site there is information "about" the site and things of that nature. The site itself almost has a rhythm to it in a sense because of the way it is laid out (in a grid like style), and certain elements repeat themselves throughout such as the color of the text which holds the whole site together. Also, when you go to the different pages on the site, there is a visual consistency from page to page. This also helps in holding the site together.

Hierarchy is used to distinguish certain elements/parts of the site from one another. For instance the size and color of the text changes throughout, yet it is always easy to read. The color scheme is limited and simple (blue, gray, black, and white), but I think it works very well for this site. It makes it easy to distinguish the text and images. The main navigational buttons/links are located on the top and look different from the other text in the site. The "start building a playlist" text is emphasized the most on the home page. It is right at the top and the text is bigger and bolder than the other text around it. This is appropriate because the main purpose of the site is to build a playlist and listen to others playlists. The titles of the different featured playlists are bigger than the music on the playlist itself.

The site is very easy to use you just click the create a playlist option at the top and then name it. Once you have done that you just search for the music that you want on your playlist and it lists what it has based on what you type in. Then if it is what you want you add it to your playlist by clicking the add button which looks like a (+). It is very uncomplicated, and I have been very happy with it except when it doesn't have the music I'm looking for, but I am often surprised at what it does have.

http://www.playlist.com/

K & S Tailor Alterations and Shoe Repair Shop

K & S Tailor Alterations and Shoe Repair Shop is a website to advertise the store K & S Tailor. It is quite possibly one of the worst websites to advertise a business that I have ever seen. I don't mean to be harsh, but it looks like someone started the website and gave up before they were finished.

For starters, the site consists of one page, the homepage, and nothing else. The homepage has a grid like layout which is fairly cluttered consisting of mostly pictures of the businesses work. The pictures are of varying sizes which leads to and overall unbalanced finish of the homepage. The pictures are also labeled underneath. This would seem appropriate in most circumstances; however, they are hand written labels in various people's handwriting which causes a sort of disconnect between the pictures on the homepage.

Since were on the topic of text I suppose this would be a good time to move on to the title of the site and other information provided that is not handwritten. The font for the title of the website is a script like font and it is used throughout the website. I can see this font being appropriate for the title, but the whole website, I think not. If they had used a sans serif typeface I think that would have set off the title and allowed the user to distinguish between the other information on the site more easily.

They create a sense of hierarchy through color change, boldness, and size change; however, though they use these elements, they are all used wrongly. I also think the colors are all wrong for the site. They use three colors white, black, and yellow. Perhaps they wouldn't be so bad if they had a more organized usage for their colors, but something leads me to believe that wouldn't have saved their site anyway.

 The site has but one link: the link to the companies email, and though this link does function, the site as a whole does not. It is a complete and utter mess when it comes to the principles and elements of design, and it's functionality, though met, looks to the user as if they were barely trying. So, I encourage you to check out this site and perhaps click on the link to the companies email (it won't be hard to find) to give them some advice on how to better their website because, let's face it, this website is a failure to both the company and design which is all around unacceptable.


http://www.kstailor.com/